Category: Integrity

Two online dictionaries, the Cambridge Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, define integrity as a summation of possession of robust moral principles and resolve to firmly adhere to the code that is subscribed to. In this essay, we shall discuss the importance of integrity in the legal profession. This will be done by first laying down the required qualities to join the profession. Thereafter, we shall look at how each member’s conduct impacts the entire membership. We shall also look at the duty of care and several other honest-related issues. Thereafter, we shall assess the adjudicator’s role, and finally, we shall conclude.

As a start, we consider the integrity of one joining the legal profession. We need to establish what makes a candidate appropriate to join the profession. In the case of Mabuye v Council of Legal Education, enormous emphasis was placed on integrity as a basis for the general public to trust the profession. When the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in this case, it too highlighted the importance of integrity. Therefore, we can establish that integrity is important for anyone wishing to join or return to the legal profession. Mr. Mwanakatwe argued that the court has a duty to ensure that persons who, because of what is already known about them, cannot be expected to uphold the dignity and standards of the profession and who do not show that they can be relied upon by the courts and by their clients, are not allowed to join the noble ranks of the legal profession. The Supreme Court was in agreement that the overriding criterion for fitness to practice is integrity, and for a disqualification to be maintainable it should be made to appear quite clearly that the misconduct complaint not only seriously undermined such integrity, but also that no amount of contrition and subsequent good conduct can be regarded as having repaired and redeemed the applicant’s integrity.

Secondly, let us weigh in on which group takes more precedence in the legal profession. In the case of Mbaalala Munungu v Legal Practitioners Disciplinary, the cases found that the general public’s interest was far more significant than a single practitioner’s interest. We can deduce that the interest of the legal fraternity code as a whole, and that of the public should always take precedence over an individual interest. It is for this reason that legal practitioners should try by all means not to place their interests before their clients.

Another virtue that is adjoined with integrity is the obligation to duty. In the following English case, Groom v Crooker (1939), it was concluded that it a lawyer is guilty of negligence if they badly carry out instructions. Therefore, as a member of the legal profession, impeccable workmanship is expected when executing instructions on behalf of a client. As practitioners, it is expected that effort to deliver quality output that will save the interest of the client.

The Rahim v Obaid case presents before us a test of honesty in a lawyer. Where the integrity of a legal profession is at play, members should avoid situations and circumstances that challenge their affirmation of the code of conduct. Personal integrity in such situations can help a practitioner assess which cases to handle or not. Therefore, it may not just be about gaining popularity or winning cases even but doing so in a manner that upholds the truth.

Notwithstanding the above, the weight for integrity does not end with lawyers that represent clients only, but on those too that adjudicate over matters. In the report ‘The Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct (2002)’, officers of the court were reminded of the importance of integrity. If adjudicators practice impartial judgment, the public may lose faith in the system.

Seeing from the above, we looked at integrity being a yardstick at the entry point or re-admission request. We also looked at integrity being the fuel that the profession should feed on in their day-to-day assignments, and lack of it may lead to one being disbarred. Lastly, we also looked at the expected amount of integrity that is needed to validate justice as just. We can safely conclude that the aspect of integrity is cardinal for the survival of the profession. Therefore, a lawyer should have strong principles and firms, as well as a firm adherence to the fraternity code.

Integrity is how somebody lives their life. We dictate how we run our own lives, and the way we run our lives defines us. Sailors and people have something that can never be taken from them, and that’s integrity. It is something that means a lot to some people and then nothing to others. The ones who value their integrity are the good people in this world, and the bad people are the ones who have none or don’t value it and can’t be trusted.

I think that integrity is a hard thing to maintain and to keep, due to it being so easy to compromise and lose completely. Rebuilding your integrity and trust from others is even harder than just keeping it. It’s worth working towards the goal of being trustworthy and having the community know you have integrity. It’s not supposed to be easy because lying is easy.

In the civilian world integrity is the bases of relationships, both personal and professional. A business is built on trust between individuals with their transactions and agreements. They are motivated by the drive of profit. To earn more and grow bigger. This is only possible when their integrity is impeccable and they are a trustworthy individual, for the most part. As we’ve seen and will always see when a company begins to lie or sell a product that isn’t what its marketed to be their hit with class action lawsuits, loss of profits, lobbying against their favor, the consumers boycotting their product and their brand. It destroys businesses. A perfect example of this would be the stock market penny stock pump and dump scam orchestrated by Stratton Oakmont under the supervision of Jordan Belfort from 1989 to 1999. They would sell the stock at a higher price than its true value, and they were able to do this because penny stocks didn’t get reported in economic stock news papers at the time so the investor had to trust the brokerage firm. As more people bought the penny stock the price would rise and the people who were manipulating this operation would sell their shares when the price hit a substantial price and the investors who had been jipped by Belfort would lose their investment and he’d make money off of it. The company would also try to maintain the price of stock by refusing to accept or process orders to sell the stock. From the company’s inception they were under constant scrutiny from investigative services who were building a case and gathering evidence against those in the firms leadership. It all started with a lie and it ended with Belfort and his associates being fined 110.4 million and spending 22 months in prison. He will never be able to enter that field again.

When we all went to bootcamp they pounded into our heads “Honor courage commitment” and they taught us all the importance of our integrity and how it was the sole reason why our navy is so strong and effective. It is a core navy value, to do what’s right, legally and morally. It is a quality you develop by adhering to moral principles and that it requires that you do and say nothing that deceives others. It is instilled in us everyday of our time in the military. We are sailors always, twenty-four hours a day seven days a week three hundred and sixty five days out of the year. At no time in our five year contract are we not sailors, even on leave we are held to the same standards as those left here to man the ship and dutys. We have seen recently and in the past the effects of lying and losing our integrity. Even here on this boat. Lying can get you kicked out of this service and result in a loss of all the benefits of being in the Navy. There is never and upside to lying. Not even if you can get away with it. Sooner or later the truth comes out, the leadership will find out and then your ass will be grass. Even worse than that people could be dead as a result of your lying. Logs, watches, and maintenance are all things that require integrity, they are directly related to the safety of everybody on our submarine.

“Be impeccable with your word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.” A quote by Don Miguel Ruiz. Integrity is crucial in life. Especially in the military. There are so many examples of the truth being what sets people free. I have had to learn this the hard way. I lied and I compromised my integrity and the ability for my shipmates to trust me. For this I’m greatly sorry and ashamed. I have learned from my mistake and from looking at examples of others making the same mistake in different or the same manners. There is nothing to be gained, even when you get away with it. It affects how you think and go about doing your duties. It will make you think its okay to lie and cheat and do things the wrong way. It puts you and everyone around you in danger. It wasn’t and isn’t worth doing. Don’t do it.

Introduction

Research integrity is the dedication of the science society-sometimes faced with adversity-to the credibility of the study method. For many purposes, serious misconduct in studies is significant, not least because it damages the reputation of science and undermines public support. (commentary) This discussion will first focus on the importance of maintaining research integrity. Then it will concentrate on the reasons why research integrity is not maintained. Finally, it will offer an understanding of how to preserve the integrity of studies.

Importance of Research Integrity

Research integrity concerns the efficiency of study in an ethically robust way to the highest norms of professionalism and rigour (commentary). Research integrity can enhance study performance in the European study environment, thereby enhancing its general efficiency and future effect. (commentary) It is asserted to be essential because it generates trust, and trust is at the core of the study method. (commentary). It is significant because the broader science community can only innovate and thrive when its participants work together as a body to guarantee an environment that fosters trust and confidence in our study results, encourages the free and open exchange of study products and fresh thoughts, upholds individual and corporate responsibility, and supports the intellectual property. (self source)

Source of the issue

Certain characteristics of the working system of research may have unpredictable and possibly harmful impacts on the ethical aspects of the job of researchers. (commentary) The scale of industry-sponsored studies is substantial. In the recent decade, the quantity of financing and the involvement of sector in studies has dramatically risen. Researchers, therefore, feel pressure, both self-imposed and externally enforced, to perform in the research linked to their specific field. (self source). Modern scientists face intense rivalry and are further burdened by challenging, sometimes unwise, legislative, social, and financial demands. (commentary). In most scientifically engaged nations, rivalry for employment and assets is on the increase, and professional achievement is determined to some extent by study results. This brings almost all researchers under some ‘pressures to publish'(second source)

Solutions and safeguard

Over the last century, public organizations and specialist organizations involved in encouraging integrity have concentrated on accountable behavior in studies. However, these activities continue to give priority to the instant laboratory and departmental environments of the job of researchers and are typically limited to’ fixing’ the behavior of people. (commentary). The broader study environment, including the organizational and systemic framework, is missing from present analyses of scientific integrity (commentary). It is assumed that the introduction of policies and structures at the institutional or national level to detect and punish misconduct and to promote research integrity will strengthen scientific self-correction and prevent scientists from engaging in irresponsible behavior. (second source) The peer control system can assist in maintaining the integrity of studies. At the heart of the scientific method is the concept that transparent, open communication and mutual criticism are vital components of scientific self-correction. (second source)

Conclusion

Research integrity is a vital part of scientific society. Strategies to decrease pressure to publish may be ineffective as they are presently designed, while strategies and structures to address accusations of scientific misconduct, to promote transparency and mutual criticism between peers, and to strengthen the training and mentoring of young scientists could best safeguard the integrity of future science.

INTRODUCTION

Integrity and religion is according to the article 11 provides the freedom of religion. Article 11 illustrate about every person has the right to proclaim, possession and practice their own religion. In the Article 3 stated regarding Islam is the religion that practices in Federation. On the other hand, in any part of Federation others religion can be practiced in peace and harmony. For an example, as Muslim people the Al-Quran and As-Sunnah as the guideline for Muslim to practice Islam. The Islam religion practice the moderation in the lifestyle to avoid the unethical behaviors. Religion serve a guide for the universal of people the solid basic that every person need and ethics need. Every religion has restraint for every person to avoid doing bad behavior or thing and back to the ethics for every wrongdoing. In Islam, the Prophet Muhammad as a good role model to follow. Islam every good deed has a good deed or reward and every bad has their own punishment.

A study by Stanwick and Stanwick (2009), integrity borrowed from Latin word integrity. The integrity refer to the person noble values such as transparent, honesty, accountability, truthful, sincerity, and good character. The integrity is need religion as a person has a believer of the existence of God the person action, behavior and intention will in a good way as obey to the God command. In the organization such as the public servant responsibly carry out their duty and also shown a good image to the public. It will enhance the trust of the public towards the organization. Integrity is a part of responsibility of the worker and every action will refer back to the God concept. According to the Weber(1958), the religions have strong influences person ethics as create a good noble value in individual and as an advantages to lead rewarding lives. According to the Transparency International (TI) Malaysia (2017),

Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in 2017 was the three country that lowest compare other Asean countries. A case scenario incident in Malaysia regarding the integrity and religion is split up and distress the people. According to the Faris Mokhtar (2018) radically the politics charged on the multi-ethnic nation regarding this issue is not a new issue that appear. Former premier and previous prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad used the Malay people in the rural area to vote them. A study of Sukumaran (2017) the Politician used the Bumiputra policies to help the Malays people as Malays people consider themselves as disadvantaged and in need of assistance. But, it is the trick from the politician to gain the trust from the people. The incident such as the PAS’ President Hadi Awang (2019) the assemble held in Dataran Merdaka,Kuala Lumpur declared that the Non-Muslim people should be grateful as themselves been accepted in this country. The character of the politician that not have any element of integrity as did not respect other religion by throwing curse word.

Reason of incident is the voter of Barisan Nasional (BN) dissatisfaction with the ruler of BN that involve with the corruption issue. Due to this issue, the voter increasing in vote the Pakatan Harapan the opposition parties during that time. According to the Faris Mokhtar (2018), after the election the opposition United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) used the race and religion to won their mind and heart of the majority Malay population. It is will become long-term issue the politician will extend to politicize the race and religion from the various of the political parties. The incident related with the ethics as the religious set a good path to practice and the religious never taught about the bad morality as the noble value. According to the Malaysia Kini (2008), religion and integrity should continue person liable of an individual. Plus, the government duty is to administer the country to ensure a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere throughout. Every race must treat equal and justice and also the religious issue must been solve by well-learned religious leaders.

BODY OF DISCUSSION

i) Topic chosen and relevant issues

The incidents highlight about how the country steps towards national integration with integrity. This article stressed that one of the steps towards the national integration is one of them mention about the religion. It shapes that “religion got to be dispensation out from the treatise”. It was because, the religion was misuse among the politician. Religion being used to follow their interest and make religion sound difficult and bad to others races. Politician take advantage to divide and separate the nations. It must be handle with the professional or rulers the power of religion. The Federal Government has no interfere in the religion except their main focus is to ensure the nation was being protected and business run smoothly such as establishing commerce and strong trade externally to assist farmers and working class and providing effective defence against external threats (Ismail, 2019).

It can be related with the issue in Kuantan last year. It becoming hot topic among citizens as this issue is about the Malaysian opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) that say “integrity without Islam is not accepted by Allah, and a person with faith who has no integrity remains better than someone with integrity but no faith”. In academic perspectives, it like the leader is bias because it mentioned that the leader must be choose or elected from Muslim first even that person have no integrity. Integrity is very important to choose a leader as it can lead to corruption and can lead to immoral image to become a leader. It must be balance for both as even the character of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) have been famous with titled him as “Muhammadul-Amin” which mean person who represent trustworthy and honesty (Daryal, 2010).

It can be related with ethics, topic one that mention the ethics and religion. Religion is the one of the oldest human institutions. Religion is as the believed for every person to behave morally. All religion has a moral component and religious approaches to the problem of ethics. In Islam especially, the harmonious conformity to natural human disposition. It means that Islamic ethics recognized the true nature of man as its maintenance of harmonious balance between the physical and the spiritual, the worldliness and non-worldliness. Islam not encourage people to become bias. It can be related as the leader must be balance with have faith and have integrity. In academic perspective, the bias among races was being mention as it only wants the leader who is Islam to be prioritise even that person have no honesty. The prioritise for good ethic is not on the first place. Leader must show the good ethic for him to become respected and role model to the followers. To gain followers, good morale need to be show as it also responsibility for the leader to perform the best and with integrity.

There is also another issue which is ‘Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM) or also known as Civil Society Organisation. This organisation members is among the non-partisan, multi ethnic and multi-faith that reform to raised awareness to people that need to reclaim the basic right of justice, freedom and solidarity. On 2016, their leader, Tan Yew Sing highlighted that Malaysia is suffering from the escalation of ethno-religious exclusion and deterioration of politician’ integrity and credibility. The case is 1MDB scandal that make Malaysia become the second among the five worst countries plagued by corruption (Admin, 2016). This prove that integrity still lack in the Malaysia administration. Ethic implement in very low and show bad reputation in the worldwide.

It can be related with ethics, topic on four that mention the principle of ethics in public administration in Malaysia. Although for public sector entities the financial profit motive might not be paramount, good or reasonable financial performance, in line with agreed budgets or other authority which is important both to continue service delivery and to demonstrate good stewardship of public money raised from taxation or charges for public service. Thus, the Malaysian public serve had gone through various changes in its style of administration. Starting with the traditional public administration. For example, New Public Management (NPM), the National Integrity Plan (NIP), and Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

This issues also being raise by GBM about the concern of disharmony since General Election 2013 among politician. Religion was being used to separate the races in Malaysia. Malaysia that being know in as multi-cultural is very sensitive about this issue as the introduction of “halal” trolleys that makes the separation between Muslims and non-Muslims (Admin, 2016). The products at supermarket was in the packaging or containers beside there is no harm in using it. This should not be introduced as it makes the gap between other religion huge. Islam is easy to practice and it depend on people to measure it.

Furthermore, this issue shows that the integrity and religion is inseparable from ethics where it can be relate in topic one. In academic perspectives, people get ethical values from their religion and cultures. As from religion moral based from religion and ethic from the culture itself. From GBM issue, both concern is related as politician and person who introduce the “halal” trolley also have religion and believe. Religion is as the ultimate sources of morality and the god provide the ultimate sanction that works under all conditions and setting. People need to behave carefully and smart when making decision. So, the religion will not misuse and good morale can be maintained.

It also can be related with ethics, topic five that mention the challenges to ethical decision making. According to Michaels 2011, Psychologists divide the challenges of ethical decision-making into three critical perspectives which is faulty reasoning about the external environment, other people and themselves. In faulty reasoning about the external environment, in terms of misjudging causes. When leaders debrief a disappointing situation, they first have to manage their inclination to assign blame. Personalizing complex issues cloud the bigger picture of cause and effect. Rather, embracing the systems view can boost a more realistic platform from which leaders can better understand their realities and their lesson learned. Next is faulty reasoning about others in exaggerating differences. Clear decision-making criteria and processes will help bolster leadership teams against unfair judgements based on group identity. One way to protect against personal bias is to put strong policies in place that are explicit commitments to fairness and individual assessment. Besides, under faulty reasoning about ourselves. In inflating a perception of fairness. Leaders tend to be goal-focused, with a good understanding of what achievement will bring to the association. Leaders work hard and can readily speak to all their effort that forward the association’s success. A faulty sense of entitlement can ensue, biasing the leader’s sense of fairness. A willingness to solicit feedback, particularly from third-party partners or advisers, can guard against this tendency.

This issues also being raise by urged the citizens of Malaysia to work hard to forge consensus on two major issues, namely Islamisation and affirmative action by further called on civil society and the business community to provide leadership when and where politicians have failed. As an examples among GBM members in Negeri Sembilan and Sungai Petani, Kedah, where Chinese schools and schools run by a Malay man name, Ikram have come together to hold dialogues and joint cultural activities (Admin, 2016).

It can be related with ethics, topic eight that mention the ethics and leadership on transformational and servant under types of leadership. Transformational leadership is a grace in which leaders embolden, motivate and cause employees to modernize and build change that will help develop and contour the future victory of the company. Besides, servant leadership is a leadership philosophy in which the main goal of the leader is to serve. This is diverse from traditional leadership where the leader’s core focus is the flourishing of their firm or organizations. For examples of servant leadership can be found in certain religious and political leaders.

Last but not least, from the main incident, there also have many issue that relate to the same things. Ethics can be teaching from early and become habit if parents teach in the early age to become a morale person. The religion is the belief that keep the ethics maintained and control behaviour as there is a punishment by god if breach the order. In short, people who have faith and religion can become an ethical person for the example to the new generation and future.

ii) Expected implications from the incident

The first expected implications from the incident above is it could be hindering the nation’s chance to achieve unity as multi-racial and multi-religious country (Sukumaran, 2017). Due to the politicians are using races and religious cards, there is rise of racial and religion hatred in the nation today. In order to win the support of people, the politicians trying to manipulate the people to divide and rule by using the religion. It is hard for nation to achieve unity since the politician always arise issue that are sensitive to be heard when they are arguing, debating and manipulate the races and religious issue in parliament (Komas, 2019). They are also bickering and fighting among themselves by making statement, which make the people to hate the ethnic in that party being criticized. This can cause people to be involved in political toys to make them being hate each other. This have shown that our government, which is our leader are not showing the good manner or good ethics to the people when they are debating among themselves in parliament. They are lack of integrity to manage the people because they itself do not honest and likes to plot twist when manage the country. The government either the opposition party should to behave with maturely enough to show a good ethics to the society, not just for their political survival because they have be given the responsibility to leading the people in a country.

The second expected implications from the incidents is it also can give bad images to the religions. It means that, the behaviour of an individual or politician will determine whether that person is educated with the right religion or not. This is because the religion is essential to help the person to make a choice what is right and what is wrong. The religion also taught human to act with integrity when handle something in their life. Therefore, if someone lack of integrity, the people will related he or she with their religion teachings. For an example, Tun Dr Mahathir has voice out that he do not agree that Tan Sri Muhyiddin to become as Prime Minister as Tan Sri Muhyiddin did not receive an official mandate from the people (Chan, 2020). However, Tan Sri Muhyiddin claims that he already had meeting and ask the permission from Tun Dr Mahathir when Yang Di-Pertuan Agung choose him to fill up the prime minister position. From this situation, the people will judge that Tun Dr Mahathir is lack of integrity and as a Muslim, this should not be happens. I t will give a bad images to Islam as the official religion in Malaysia.

Besides that, if this incident left unchecked, it could cause a national tragedy (Channel News Asia, 2019). It means that if this problem are not solve or cope in long-term, it will causes the 13 May Tragedy will be occur again in Malaysia. The contributed to the spread of religious and sensitive racial issues is because the increasing of tension made by among of politician. For an example, during the Pakatan Harapan era govern the country, the president of PAS, which is Abdul Hadi Awang claims that Pakatan Harapan is disorganized and dominated by non-Muslims where the majority is Chinese who are misuse the power by putting Chinese rights at the first place. He supported that Malaysia is a country with the majority of Malay Muslims where Malay-Muslim political power should the one who are manage the Putrajaya by establish the Pakatan Nasional and the rights of Malay should be given back. (Malaysia Kini, 2020). This situation is tense when the president PAS arise the issue of Muslim and non-Muslim, which make the citizen from Malay and Chinese also fight where the Chinese want for equality of rights in the country as same as the Malay. It can conclude that the politician in Pakatan Harapan do not have integrity where before they become government, they promises to changes the fate of citizen under the administration of Barisan Nasional. However, after they sit in government they broke the promises because they want to give the fair and equal rights to with their same races, which is Chinese.

CONCLUSION

The incidents highlight about how the country steps towards national integration about religion which was misuse among the politician. Next, the incident is Malaysia is suffering from the escalation of ethno-religious exclusion and deterioration of politician’ integrity and credibility which become the second among the five worst countries plagued by corruption. Besides, issues on being raise by urged the citizens of Malaysia to work hard to forge consensus on two major issues, namely Islamisation and affirmative action by further called on civil society and the business community to provide leadership when and where politicians have failed.

To sum up, all the incidents can be reduce by having a campaign to promote good ethics. This is the way in creating awareness among Malaysians and to encourage the practice of good ethics via a month-long nationwide “Doing the Right Thing” i-Pledge Campaign which is introduce by ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Malaysia in celebrating the 2018 Global Ethics Day. This has been include by applying a series of interactive activities and events that will be focused on creating and building awareness on ethics and to reinforce that understanding by asking fellow Malaysians to make their own personal pledge on doing the right thing to shine a spotlight on all things ethical. According to Chair of ACCA Malaysia Advisory Committee Datuk Merina Abu Tahir said: “Being ethical is about doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Upholding good ethics is the responsibility of all, and together we can make a difference in the world, starting with ourselves and our country” (Anonymous, 2018).

The integrity of civil servant is always questioned by the society, so it raises public awareness of misconduct and abuse of power during delivery services, especially in the uniform department such as the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP). For that reason one case study on integrity among Royal Malaysian Police (RMP): An Ethical Perspective had been done by Haniza Hanim Mustaffa Bakri, Jamaliah Said and Zulyanti Abd Karim (2015). The objective of this study to evaluate the present level of integrity among RMP officers. The data collection via distribute questionnaires or quantitative method involved 189 officers in RMP.

In this study, the author highlight the important of the integrity in the RMP officers which is will reflect to the image of the department. The strong justification and reasonable recommendation by the author. Based on the case study, the civil servant must be trusted and honest during performing their job. According to Amstrong, (2005) integrity in civil servant such as police officer refers to employees “honesty” or “trustworthiness” in performing their official duties, avoiding “corruption” or “the abuse of office”. According to Akir, (2012) he defined integrity is an indicator for trust, competence, professionalism and confidence. He also conceptualised integrity into three (3) dimension which are prevention, accountability and enforcement. The author had mention, to maintain their discipline, obey for rules and regulation and being accountable for one’s action must have integrity. Many studies had done which proved that high level of integrity among the civil servant would avoid any unethical behaviour among their employees. Therefore, the behaviour of employees might be a symbol employed by the management to point the extent of integrity among the workers.

In this studies integrity are measure by given 11 scenario for them to feedback. The finding in this studies show that the officer in RMP have high in integrity but at the same time perception and view from society to the RMP reflect negative image. In order to get a give a good image to the RMP, the authors suggest the RMP to promote and build a public trust and confidence. Beside that the RMP should strengthen the external credibility of enforcement officer.

Supported the case study above, the author strongly agree that the important of the integrity in RMP officers. This is often because with integrity the worker will perform their work with calm, sincere and obey with the rules and regulation. Additionally in ethics and integrity issues government aware and plan a strategy to overcome it. Last June 2014, Prime Minister had announced the mandate of establishment of Integrity and Governance Committee at all level in the state and ministries. MACC is held liable for conducting agencies to work out the acceptable model of Integrity Unit, conduct a research, planning, drafting and developing control policy and integrity institutionalization initiative for Integrity Units under ministries, state governments, departments and government agencies. This initiative is hoping to control criminal misconduct and violations of the code of conduct and ethics within the civil service organization.

According to the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission Annual Report in 2011, 2012 and 2013 show that, government agencies have low integrity behaviour will leads to misconduct and abuse of their power. Statistic show RMP takes the highest number within 3 years. Obviously RMP, had a bad impression from the society this is because the highest numbers of report regarding the misconduct and abuse of power. In addition to trash the image of the RMP to society.

In fact, issues on RMP are related to public integrity. The rationale is because the public integrity itself acts as an indicator towards the standard of acting in accordance with the moral values, norms and rules that’s accepted by the politics and public bodies. Besides that, in an effort for Malaysia to become a high income and developed nation to satisfy the expectations of Vision 2020, the Malaysian Public Service continues to redefine itself during challenging times. Through the implementation of various programs like One Malaysia, National Blue Ocean, the Malaysian Public Sector continually, work together in promoting the integrity in Malaysian Public Sector.

In order to give a good impression to RMP, authors also suggested to enhancing the that public perception about police, strengthening the policy and change the mind-set of the society. My personal opinion agreed with the authors. I believe with good image of RMP will increase the confidence and build a trust between two parties. Some how the comments from the society without empirical support.

Apart from this, involvement and committee who is planning, drafting and monitor the public complaint and integrity body. MACC, Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission and Integrity and Ombudsman should play an important role for create awareness to extend the understanding of the ethics and integrity policies. Managing ethically is an important leadership competency.

Department should work from hand to hands with the Malaysian Public Sector to make sure the programme’s success. In managing ethically is an important leadership competency. By providing the guidance for its ethics and integrity, and the way to deal with them.

Furthermore, the RMK must be promotes transparency in reference to all of its activities. To make awareness and promote an honest practise within the department. For fast, misconduct within the department must be handle with transparent and fair to all or any the government servant. Publishes annual reports about ethics and integrity. Thus, since the Malaysian Public Sector are well promoting the integrity system within the government sector, this may embedded trust on the public for the higher way of the government in managing the public funds and the government matters.

Policies and guidelines for discipline and reward on its ethic & integrity are considered the best practice. Any policies must be circulate to all or any, in order that the design and enforcement within the department will work together towards the target.

As a conclusion, as author emphasized the importance of the integrity to portrait the great image in RMP. It shows that the leaders in one organization play a task, to make sure the great ethics and integrity must be monitor and sustain altogether levels. Nevertheless, to realize people trust in one organization the leaders must show an honest example to the centre and low level group.

Academic integrity has been defined as involving ‘‘understanding what it means to be honest in the particular culture of the academic world, and being able to apply the scholarly conventions of acknowledgment’’ (East and Donnelly 2012). Academic integrity is the fundamental block of academic learning and research. It involves the principles of honesty, fairness, respect, acknowledgment and responsibility towards your or other’s scholarly or practical work by giving them credit for their work. One way to prevent academic misconduct is by putting proper citation and reference under the sources used in case of academic writing.

Academic integrity is one of the most crucial factors in order to earn your degree. A student should care about academic integrity because what you learn in your area of study set the base for your professional knowledge. Students with personal morals and values will work hard by giving proper time to study, complete assignments and other coursework on their own before deadline. Therefore, making them more suitable for the workforce, as these integrity values will follows them in the workplace and prepares them for the industry expectations.

The different types of academic misconduct are: Plagiarism, Cheating, Impersonation, Improper Access, Falsification, Resubmission, Improper Research, Obstruction and Aiding and Abetting. Plagiarism refers to submission of other’s work without giving credit to the author i.e., by not citing the sources. Cheating refers to the peeking at other’s test paper, using any electronic gadget, writing answers on body parts or on sheets and violating other rules and regulations during an exam or test. The act of paying a person in order to pretend to be someone else to attend the lectures and labs, and give exams and quizzes at their place is known as Impersonation. This also includes paying third party services, such as writing services, essay banks or private tutors to make their assignment and then submit it as their own. (Lancaster & Clarke, 2016, p. 639) Improper Access is misconduct when a person found a copy of the upcoming exam on either instructor’s computer or from someone else and even distributes that copy with some of the classmates. The practice of falsifying a document or record such as showing a fake doctor’s note and modifying the transcript is termed as falsification. Resubmission means re-submitting the work more than once that is done in some other class. This happens when the student gets the same assignment or task in two different classes. Improper Research indicates that a person only includes the supporting data and abandons the rest from the experiment or other practices in order to show the completion of the task. Obstruction is one of the academic misconduct in which a person tampers with other peer’s work or ruins their experiments and work. The last form of academic misconduct is aiding and abetting. It occurs when a student encourages or helps other class fellows to attempt any one of the academic misconduct.

Students commit this because of various reasons. First of all, they have pressure to succeed due to competition. They have lack of confidence on their abilities, so they decide to copy and paste other’s scholarly work to score good marks. Moreover, some students have lack of interest in their field of study and they are not able to understand the lecture properly. Another reason can be poor time management skills. Some students do not manage between the study and the part-time job, so they end up with lack of time for their assignments and exams.

Academic misconduct in any of these forms is eventually destructive of the principles of education. To discourage students and avoid these types of misconduct, educational institutions are promoting it and have developed some strategies. One of the approaches is to penalize the student. These penalties have three levels: Light, Moderate and Severe. The easy punishments involve written reprimand, attend academic integrity workshop, and write critical reflection piece and sometimes resubmission of the work. The modest penalties are no score in the assignment or exam and no credit for the course. The harsh penalties are removal of the program, expulsion from university, revocation of an award or degree and rejection of readmission.

Another prime example of accepting human mortality is showcased in the novel “Never Let Me Go” (2010) by Kazuo Ishiguro. The novel is set in a dystopian world where cloning occurs for organ donations. The story is centered on a clone named Kathy whose teacher, Miss Lucy, informs them how terrible their lives will become once they are donors. “Never Let Me Go” tends to revolve around the dilemma of how to live a meaningful life while knowing you are going to die. Miss Lucy aptly summarizes this when she says “If you’re to live decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you.” Miss Lucy is the kind of woman to focuses on her memories and views them as a life well lived. In this society of cloning and organ donations, she has constantly encouraged her students to lead fulfilling lives because death is a very near, and very possible, outcome.

The well-known theme of mortality pops up once again in “The Fault in Our Stars” (2012), a novel written by John Green, which was later produced as a movie. It is a moving tale about Hazel Grace, who has thyroid cancer and lives her life day by day. She meets Augustus Waters who brings her vitality back. Although both of them find joy in life through each other, they still think about everything in terms of how long they can survive. This is clearly seen when Hazel says “If I could just stay alive for a week, I’d know the unwritten secrets of Anna’s mom and the Dutch Tulip Guy.” What this confirms is that due to her terminal illness, she is constantly aware of her mortality and that she doesn’t have very long to live. Augustus also portrays this trait when he “thought I [he] could arrange a pre-funeral…” Although this seems quite morbid, it is understandable that he would want to hear what Hazel and Isaac, his friend, have to say about him. All in all, John Green made sure that the book constantly brought up the theme of coming to terms with death and mortality, and how each person’s situation affects their decisions.

Once we have come to terms with our mortality, the resulting crucial step lies in figuring out whether we continue our lives with integrity or despair. The road to integrity involves acceptance and looking forward to death as the next big experience, which is the case for Mr. Magorium in the movie “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” (2007). Edward Magorium is 243 years old and has seen things that we can only marvel at. After a long life well lived, Mr. Magorium equips Molly Mahoney with some important advice: “I’m only asking that you turn the page, continue reading… and let the next story begin.” Edward is a prime example of someone accepting that humans cannot live forever. After his numerous years on Earth, he encourages Molly to “relate my [his] life in all its wonder” so that he can peacefully “depart”. This level of wisdom was defined by Erikson as an “informed and detached concern with life itself even in the face of death itself” (Erikson, 1982).

A spooky and stylistic approach to the phenomenon that is ego integrity is the midnight story of “The Three Brothers” in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” (2007). We must especially focus on the third brother, Ignotus Peverrel. When the three brothers ‘cheated’ Death, they were each granted a gift of their choosing as a reward. Ignotus received a cloak when he asked to not be followed by Death for the rest of his life. Whilst his two brothers died of murder and suicide, Ignotus hid from Death for many years. When Ignotus felt that he had lived his life to the fullest, he shed his Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. He then “greeted Death as an old friend…departed this life as equals.” This is significant because it implies that Ignotus did not try to avoid Death, and did not have any regrets. Rather, he lived his life with integrity and only unveiled himself to Death when he was content that his life had been meaningful. In other terms, it means that Ignotus only accepted his death once he was satisfied with a life well lived, especially as he was gifted with a son to whom he could pass on the cloak.

Another prime example of accepting human mortality is showcased in the novel “Never Let Me Go” (2010) by Kazuo Ishiguro. The novel is set in a dystopian world where cloning occurs for organ donations. The story is centered on a clone named Kathy whose teacher, Miss Lucy, informs them how terrible their lives will become once they are donors. “Never Let Me Go” tends to revolve around the dilemma of how to live a meaningful life while knowing you are going to die. Miss Lucy aptly summarizes this when she says “If you’re to live decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you.” Miss Lucy is the kind of woman to focuses on her memories and views them as a life well lived. In this society of cloning and organ donations, she has constantly encouraged her students to lead fulfilling lives because death is a very near, and very possible, outcome.

The well-known theme of mortality pops up once again in “The Fault in Our Stars” (2012), a novel written by John Green, which was later produced as a movie. It is a moving tale about Hazel Grace, who has thyroid cancer and lives her life day by day. She meets Augustus Waters who brings her vitality back. Although both of them find joy in life through each other, they still think about everything in terms of how long they can survive. This is clearly seen when Hazel says “If I could just stay alive for a week, I’d know the unwritten secrets of Anna’s mom and the Dutch Tulip Guy.” What this confirms is that due to her terminal illness, she is constantly aware of her mortality and that she doesn’t have very long to live. Augustus also portrays this trait when he “thought I [he] could arrange a pre-funeral…” Although this seems quite morbid, it is understandable that he would want to hear what Hazel and Isaac, his friend, have to say about him. All in all, John Green made sure that the book constantly brought up the theme of coming to terms with death and mortality, and how each person’s situation affects their decisions.

Once we have come to terms with our mortality, the resulting crucial step lies in figuring out whether we continue our lives with integrity or despair. The road to integrity involves acceptance and looking forward to death as the next big experience, which is the case for Mr. Magorium in the movie “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” (2007). Edward Magorium is 243 years old and has seen things that we can only marvel at. After a long life well lived, Mr. Magorium equips Molly Mahoney with some important advice: “I’m only asking that you turn the page, continue reading… and let the next story begin.” Edward is a prime example of someone accepting that humans cannot live forever. After his numerous years on Earth, he encourages Molly to “relate my [his] life in all its wonder” so that he can peacefully “depart”. This level of wisdom was defined by Erikson as an “informed and detached concern with life itself even in the face of death itself” (Erikson, 1982).

A spooky and stylistic approach to the phenomenon that is ego integrity is the midnight story of “The Three Brothers” in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” (2007). We must especially focus on the third brother, Ignotus Peverrel. When the three brothers ‘cheated’ Death, they were each granted a gift of their choosing as a reward. Ignotus received a cloak when he asked to not be followed by Death for the rest of his life. Whilst his two brothers died of murder and suicide, Ignotus hid from Death for many years. When Ignotus felt that he had lived his life to the fullest, he shed his Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. He then “greeted Death as an old friend…departed this life as equals.” This is significant because it implies that Ignotus did not try to avoid Death, and did not have any regrets. Rather, he lived his life with integrity and only unveiled himself to Death when he was content that his life had been meaningful. In other terms, it means that Ignotus only accepted his death once he was satisfied with a life well lived, especially as he was gifted with a son to whom he could pass on the cloak.

The greatest challenge of leadership is to maintain integrity. Even in the world of business, education, and politics, character is recognised as major issue for leaders. When leaders fail to maintain integrity, their families and the people entrusted them would suffer the consequences.

Integrity begins from within and is based on sincerity. The word ‘Sincere’ comes from the Latin word for ‘without wax.’ In the ancient world, dishonest potters would disguise cracks in low-quality clay pots by covering them with wax. The pots looked perfect, but when exposed to heat, the wax would melt, exposing the cracks I.e., the potter’s dishonesty, rendering the pots useless.

Integrity includes our behaviour, which is to be blameless. We should do nothing to cause others to stumble.

Put in simple terms, integrity is being the same in heart, mind and actions. It is about who you are as a person, the commitments that you stand on, and the actions consistent with the first two elements.

Leader of the people decides the future of the people whereas the leader of the countries decides the future of the world. One wrong step taken by the leader would result in unthinkable chaos. For example, The United States is seen as the ultimate leader that keeps the world in peace. Any disturbance in its decisiveness would allow the world to collapse in a night.

John MacArthur describes integrity as the quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness. Until the top piece in the chessboard remain unconquered, undisturbed and as a whole, the game goes smoothly. The alternative would result in a huge loss in the blink of an eye.

The leaders of any sort are one who when he or she says something, people tend to trust it and people tend to count in it.

Without Integrity the title leadership is vague and must be stripped off from the person that is entitled to for the good of the people, of the state, of the country and of the world.

One wrong chosen leader and that’s just the beginning of suffering that the people have to go through. 49% have suffered enough because 51% thought otherwise and chose. All in all, 100% have suffered in unspeakable ways. Mouths have been shut, freedom has been crushed, democracy has been mocked.

There’s nothing like a chance when it comes to the safety, freedom of the people. Is he or she is the person of integrity? The only question should play a huge part. If not, people, you have been officially signed off to get sentenced for life.

INTRODUCTION

Morality and Integrity work invisibly in human society. Morality make human different from animals. It is a set of social principles (Gert and Gert, 2002) which are used to determine an action is good or bad. Integrity is a part of morality, means that a person’s behaviors are consistent with the espoused values (Yukl and Van Fleet, 1992).

Our group presented the importance of morality and integrity, and the benign relationship with leadership in the previous presentation with some found studies. This paper is going to cover these again with personal experience and 5 concepts, which are law, human duty, personal principles, honesty, and interaction. The 5 concepts are derived and simplified from the synthesis of Piaget’s theory (1936) and Kohlberg’s theory (1964), which already explained in the lecture and presentation.

PART A

Law, human duty, personal principles, honesty, and interaction related to each other in morality and integrity. The following attribute and define the concepts with sequential nature.

Law

Law is our initial understanding of morality. We learned from the law and the fear of punishments. We believe law is equal to morality and cannot be change. The meaning of morality is given by outside. According to Piaget’s theory (1936), what we learned from law is heteronomous morality, the first level of morality. Law is the base for children to learn morality. Children learned from the unchangeable rules and breaking rules will lead punishment. Law is the first concept we know about morality. In that time, we learned what we cannot do.

Human duty

Gradually, we realized that law is not equal to morality but we still not able to distinguish morality completely, so we observed. Scholars tried to define and prove some behavior as human duty by gave out thought experiments. For example, Kant (1797) indicate integrity as a human duty by suggested a though experiment “Lying to a murderer at the door”. In fact, before we are able to read those essays, we can already perceive most of the human duties by observing. Human duties do not indicate in law, but everyone know and accept it. We perceived it before we are able to have our own rule in that time, we learned what we can do.

Personal principles

Then we learn to stand in different views. We realized morality does not have an absolute rule as law and depends on the intentions but not consequence. “Law is just the minimum content of morality.” (Payne, 1976). People should learn morality out of the law and develop personal rule of morality. Piaget’s theory (1936) suggested it is autonomous morality. Children put oneself in someone’s shoes and able to think toward an adult. We understand everyone may have different rules of morality and take appropriate action according to it. In that time, we learned how to judge and understand other’s behaviors.

Honesty

Honesty is a kind of moral responsibility. It should be the first step of morality as everything suggest building up in the truth. Although it is impossible to create a “zero lie” ideal world, we should pursue that in order to create a harmonious society. Some people suggest we should remain silent when integrity conflicts with other moral principles. However, moral responsibility should be constituted by positive and negative duties (Belliotti, 1981). Negative duty requires we should not do something while positive duty requires we should do something. As an integral integrity, we should not lie and we should tell the truth. Honesty is a higher level of integrity in personal as it is implementing an integral integrity by achieving positive duty. In that time, we learned what we should do.

Interaction

The above are personally oriented morality. Morality and integrity are essential in human society and society is constitute by different individuals. Interaction is indispensable. In the Book of Rites (505-434 B.C.E) from Chinese Confucianism, it mentioned the step and the range of being moral is individual, family, country, and world. After we learned and achieving moral in personal development, we are going to do it for other and stimulate other to be moral. In order to achieve a higher stage of morality, we are not only going to be moral personally, but also motivate other to be moral.

These are the steps we learn and achieve morality and integrity. It is a kind of socialization as once we came to the world, we are going to learn it. We need to be moral as it is the rule of human society. Moral values as a foundation for an orderly society.

Human learned morality from law initially. Along with age and knowledge growth, we are able to perceive morality out of literal rules and do more then the must. Out of the personal development, we pursue to motivate other to be moral by interaction in order to create a harmonious society. Especially in leadership, a good leader not only be oneself. As a good and moral leader, the leader should have a good communicate with members, can motivate them to be moral, and set up a common goal in order to a team works more united and firmer.

PART B

I had a personal experience related to morality and integrity. A friend requested me to lie to her parents that we have been hang out together on a Sunday. She refused to explain the reason even I asked, but she was pleasing to me. As we are best friend and I have a good relationship with her parents, it is easy for me to help her in the case. However, it troubled me as I resist to lie. In the case, I had analyzed from rationality and sensibility. Finally, I refused her even it may destroy our friendship, and I told her if she was willing to tell me the reason, we can think of other better solutions together.

In the previous presentation, our group suggested a formula for judging whether we should or should not violate the integrity. It can be considered if the behavior is “for others, necessary, and we are ready to bear the consequences”.

I analyzed from rationality and sensibility in the case. Rationally, lying must be incorrect as integrity is human duty (Kant, 1979). Although the action is for others and it may help my friend, I cannot consider the necessity and the consequences of the behavior as I do not know the antecedent. If the case did not involve moral principles such as human life or both of us are not able and ready to bear the consequence, lying must not be consider as a solution. Sensibility, I believe trust is bilateral. Friendship is not asking each other but helping each other. If she told me the antecedent and reason, I can think of other solutions with her instead of blindly responding to her request. Honesty also works on friendship.

Actually, I am not such a firm person even it seems I made a correct decision. In the case, I was uninformed of the antecedent, so I will consider it more extreme. However, if the reason she needs my lie is about trivia, I may not think of morality and integrity, and may help her lack of consideration. People usually think that lying on trivia is not a big problem. It is wrong. “Lying was always wrong, no matter what.” (Kant, 1797) Giving oneself an excuse to lie would develop a habit of lying in a long run. I need to be firmer and think twice before act. I am not sure a firm person, so I did not have a clean cut in friendship. In order to maintaining a friendship, tolerant and reliance are important. Although I was not going to lie to her parents as an assistance, I am not going to ignore her. I want to help her in other way. I show my willingness no matter she accepts or not. At least she can know that I am willing to help her, as long as it does not violate morality and integrity.

The case can also be considered with the 5 concepts. Lying in trivia may not violate the laws, but it against human duty and my personal principles. The law of Hong Kong only indicates the integrity of commercial and government officials are illegal (ICAC, 2019). However, “Law is just the minimum content of morality.” (Hart, 1976) and Integrity is a human duty (Kant, 1797). Apart from those existing principles, I built up my own rules and judgment of autonomous morality (Piaget, 1936). I know that it is incorrect even lying on trivia. Besides, lying may influences one’s honesty, credibility and personal evaluation. If a person is tagged as unreliable, it may also affect the opportunity in a long run. Besides, in the higher level of morality, honesty should be works as interaction. Unilateral honesty is a self-fulfillment. If we can advance others to be more honest and moral, it may create a better relationship and society.

CONCLUSION

Personal development is endless. The step of achieving morality is not in succession absolutely. Personal development and social development are synchronous.

In personal development, we should be moral and honest whatever we are leader or member. As a leader, we need to think twice before action because leader have more power and responsibility of the team and the decision may affect the term or even society. In order to make the team be firmer and be respected in a long run, morality and integrity are necessary. We should not afraid to be a leader because of stress. No one is perfect, even the leaders. As a member, we can remind and give suggestions to the leader if the decision made by the leader is immoral. we are not going to put all responsibility to the leader as team is form by leader and members but not only the leader. Morality and integrity are the duties of everyone.

As a designer, it is not absolute that we need to design thing for helping people. However, if we are going to reach a higher stage of morality, we do it. We should not only force on money but need to think about what is unique about this profession. Each profession has an own way to benefit the society. Design is a problem-solving skill, we can design thing that benefit to the society, especially people with special need. Besides, the design should be honest, no plagiarism. In order to pursue an ideal society and world, morality and integrity are indispensable.